Boss Hwang went on for a long time about his business stories. From how Jongno was and how Gangnam was, to how players these days have no manners and only look after their own interests so it’s disappointing—stories that were utterly useless to Go Seok-jun who had left Seoul.
―Come up on your day off. I have things to talk to you about. Our Seok-jun is running errands unfairly in the countryside, so how can hyungnim just sit still?
Even though Boss Hwang wasn’t a police officer, there was no news within the police that he didn’t know. That also meant he did a lot of lobbying. Of course, the money didn’t flow toward ranks like Sergeant like Go Seok-jun. Still, he was grateful that he looked after him. Crucially, Go Seok-jun really liked his hyungs too.
“Yes. I’ll come up.”
He answered carelessly and hung up. Not long after, Baek Sang-eun opened the door and came in. His face was flushed red.
***
It had been quite a while since he told Boss Hwang he’d come up, but he couldn’t find time to go. After finishing night duty, he’d go to the hot spring like a routine to soak his body, take a nap at the resort, then return home. When he firmly told him not to come to the police substation carelessly, Baek Sang-eun also accepted it. It was fortunate that he didn’t have to go to the bathhouse together.
He couldn’t get used to countryside life. He just went to work when the time came, worked at the stuffy police substation, and patrolled the set course—that was all.
Since he had no intention of getting used to it anyway, he only commuted. The only places Go Seok-jun went to were the police substation and home. He hid in the house as if running away as soon as he got out of the car, afraid of running into villagers.
“Sang-eun-ah, Uncle’s home.”
Even though being thrown into his hometown was sad, a home with people who welcomed him was nice. Go Seok-jun had somehow picked up the habit of announcing his presence like the head of the household. The puppy came running and circled around Go Seok-jun. After petting the puppy a few times, he checked toward the annex where Baek Sang-eun stayed. The lights were off.
“That little shit, not coming home early.”
He raised his voice for no reason even though there was no one listening. According to a colleague from the Women and Youth Division, among domestic violence perpetrators, guys who are pathetic and ignored outside are everywhere. His own voice raising his voice at home, unable to accept his insignificant self-image, overlapped with those pathetic guys. Now he wasn’t even the homeowner but acting like the head of household—exactly like that.
Now he felt wronged too. The debt was made by hyung, so why am I paying it back?
Even so, thinking of his hyung who only worked from high school to pay for his studies, buy him clothes, feed him, and raise him, it was of course right that he pay it back. His noona was also a scholarship student from high school, and after entering the nation’s top university, she even sent Go Seok-jun allowance money from tutoring.
Empty out all the money I have to pay back Sang-eun’s money, then save up hard again.
He felt like he could return to Seoul with peace of mind only after solving the debt problem and restoring the family home’s registry to its original state. To be precise, he wanted to eliminate the problem that arose for his hyung. More than Go Seok-jun feeling uncomfortable, it would be painful for his hyung to see the house that passed into someone else’s hands.
Needless to say about police salary levels, but since there was nowhere to spend money in the countryside, if he saved up by twiddling his thumbs, he’d probably save up enough for a deposit on a new place when he went up to Seoul.
He had already called the real estate office on the first floor of the Seoul officetel. When they said studio apartments these days weren’t getting any jeonse contracts, Go Seok-jun repeatedly bowed to the real estate agent he couldn’t even see, asking them to please hurry as much as possible.
He heard that if you borrow scissors from a thriving business and hang them at the entrance, the house sells quickly. As far as Go Seok-jun knew, the most thriving business in Misong Port was Aunt Bong-seon’s place.
He set out for Aunt Bong-seon’s place to eat dinner, have a drink since tomorrow was a day off, and borrow scissors.
“What brings our officer all alone?”
Aunt Bong-seon approached while wiping the water on her hands on her apron. She sat Go Seok-jun on a plastic chair and took out a 500-milliliter bottle of water from the refrigerator and placed it on the table.
“Tomorrow’s my day off. Everyone goes to work at dawn, so there’s no one I can comfortably call.”
“That Sang-eun kid is always following only you around. Where did he go when Uncle is drinking soju alone and lonely?”
“Sang-eun should hang out with kids his age, what’s the point of following an old uncle around? I saw him after a long time and he’d become a full man. His build is just, this much.”
Go Seok-jun grinned while spreading his arms in a circle. Aunt Bong-seon set the table with cucumbers and carrots as basic side dishes, and because they were acquainted, three dried corvina. She also poured a glass of soju saying he looked lonely.
“Don’t even mention it. It feels like just yesterday Sang-eun was crying and wailing in his long underwear saying he’d go to Jun Uncle, time really flies, doesn’t it?”
“Jeong-ho hyung said Sang-eun is the big shot in this neighborhood.”
“Big shot, of course. Jun-ah, in front of money there’s no rank, you know? That kid went out on a deep-sea vessel and came back without a word of coming or going, seems he raked in money with hooks.”
So he went on a deep-sea vessel. He heard through Aunt Bong-seon’s mouth a story that neither his hyungs nor Baek Sang-eun had told.
Even when Go Seok-jun was young, there were often hyungs who went on deep-sea fishing vessels. They said you earn at least a hundred million once you go and come back. But the work was so tough, and since you might come ashore once a year or not at all, most people went once, made a lump sum, then settled on land. Seems like that’s Baek Sang-eun’s case too.
“Oh my. I should call Sang-eun hyung too. Maybe some crumbs will fall my way.”
“What good would it do you to get crumbs? Sang-eun should get married now.”
Go Seok-jun, who was nodding, clinked glasses with Aunt Bong-seon. When he poked the dried corvina with a toothpick and spun it in a spiral, the plump flesh came out.
“How long is the officer planning to stay here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t go, just live here. Be Auntie’s drinking buddy sometimes.”
“Don’t say unlucky things, Auntie.”
He glared at the aunt serving udon. From Go Seok-jun’s position, it was the worst thing to say, so his resolve to borrow scissors also retreated. Still, the udon with seafood broth was delicious, so he poured down soju one after another.
I don’t know. Everything will work out in the end. In his drunkenness, he indulged in baseless optimism. Then after pouring down one more glass, he self-deprecated that his life was shit and he just wanted to die.
“Haah…”
“Jun-ah, you’ll sink the ground. Oh my, Sang-eun’s here? Why are you only coming now? Don’t you see your Jun Uncle who you can’t live without is moping alone?”
At the sound of “Sang-eun,” he raised his head that had been deeply bowed. From the sneakers with a big brand logo, to white socks that came up above the ankles, shorts, a zip-up hoodie. His gaze moved from bottom to top. Baek Sang-eun made eye contact with Go Seok-jun as he took out his earphones one by one and put them down on the table.
“Oh? Sang-eun hyung is here?”
Completely hiding his haggard appearance from talking about dying or living, he even pretended to be relaxed as he waved his hand gently at Baek Sang-eun. A ticklish and warm sensation touched his shin. The puppy was wagging its tail and rubbing its nose vigorously. The only one who welcomes me is this Ari.
“Why am I hyung?”
“Just because. Sang-eun hyung is cool.”
“Why are you drinking alone without saying anything? You weren’t home so I wondered where you went.”
“How did you know I was here? Our Sang-eun hyung could be a detective.”
“Ari said let’s go here. Our genius puppy, want to play in the water again?”
For finding Go Seok-jun, the puppy got a treat. It also received a promise to go play in the water. It was a large dog that looked like a small cow, but its smiling face was cute. Baek Sang-eun also acted affectionately toward the puppy just like dealing with a young child.
The day he drank with his hyungs, Baek Sang-eun sent the puppy toward Go Seok-jun and made it smell him for quite a while. That son of a bitch was scheming to find him. Not a drug detection dog but an uncle detection dog.
As if he’d thoroughly used it only for smelling and finding people, he was stern only when the puppy acted friendly and fawned on Go Seok-jun. When Go Seok-jun deliberately made a tsk tsk sound and petted the puppy, Baek Sang-eun glared sharply. There’s no fuss like this fuss.
“Can you go in the water with your genius puppy? Don’t dogs hate water?”
“This one’s a water dog so it likes playing in the sea. You heard before. About putting a dog in the water. It was a story about playing in the water with Ari.”
“Ahh… You two are a match made in heaven.”
Their smiling lips looked exactly alike, making the two look like a set. If there’s such a thing as fate between beast and person, it would mean those two.
Parents left on the same day and time, noona also left for America, his wife also left, work colleagues also turned their backs in an instant. It felt like he wasn’t connected to anyone.
Something seems broken. But since he didn’t know what was broken, he couldn’t fix it. A pathetic guy who strutted around pretending to be smart, pretending to look after his own interests well, but couldn’t protect anything that was his. Go Seok-jun, who was laughing at himself, made a deflating sound and only raised his eyes.
A young man with a dick that stands well anytime, who doesn’t need to worry about money as much as health and exudes youth and masculinity from his whole body, a man who doesn’t have to bow his head to anyone—such a man was in front of him. A man who makes even a puppy that can’t speak human words do what it’s told, such a man.
The head that dropped suddenly rises slowly. Of course, it wasn’t his own will. His eyes met Baek Sang-eun’s, who bent his waist and supported Go Seok-jun’s chin with his index finger. When he tried to avoid his eyes, he gripped his chin.
He tried to say “let go,” but his lower jaw was completely caught. Black pupils slowly scanned Go Seok-jun’s eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth. As if the noisy shop’s sounds were erased in an instant, it became quiet.
Why are you looking at Uncle with those eyes? It felt strange. Just facing Baek Sang-eun, a peculiarly heavy air dug between the two. He barely lowered only his eyes. The calloused palm looked rough and solid.
Before the atmosphere became strange, he pushed away the wrist and straightened his posture. As if the briefly stopped time started flowing again, Aunt Bong-seon’s clattering sounds and chopsticks clinking began to be heard. It was a moderately cool spring night with nice weather. A gentle breeze disheveled Go Seok-jun’s bangs as it passed.
After clearing his throat with a “hmm,” he poured down a glass of soju. Baek Sang-eun pulled over a plastic chair and sat next to him. Go Seok-jun deliberately lifted the udon bowl and drank the broth, making the characteristic ajussi sound of “kyaa.” Having nothing to say, he threw out the question that any Korean would naturally ask.
“Did you eat?”
“I waited to eat with Uncle. I’m hungry.”
“The baby can’t be hungry. Auntie! Aunt Bong-seon!”
Go Seok-jun called for the aunt while raising his voice excessively. When he folded his eyes and smiled sweetly, he got smacked on the back by the aunt. It was a nasty habit that even the aunt noticed.
“Go Seok-jun! Stop drinking now!”
“I’m not drinking. The baby said he’s hungry.”
“Making disgusting sounds and all. Hey, baby. Take the officer home. You pay the bill.”
